Wedgewood Pharmacy Executive Receives 2021 Bowl of Hygeia Award for Arizona

Phoenix AZ—Michael Blaire, R.Ph., FIACP, vice president Government and Regulatory Affairs for Wedgewood Pharmacy, has been named the 2021 recipient for Arizona of the Bowl of Hygeia Award, granted by a cooperative of national pharmacy associations. Established in 1958, the annual award is given by state, provincial, and national pharmacist associations in the United States and Canada to recognize pharmacists who have “outstanding records of civic leadership and encourage pharmacists to take active roles in their communities.” In addition to service through their local, state, and national pharmacy associations, award recipients devote their time, talent, and resources to a variety of causes and community service.

The Bowl of Hygeia is one of the symbols of pharmacy, and along with the Rod of Asclepius, it is one of the most ancient and important symbols related to medicine. Hygeia was the Greek Goddess of Health, Cleanliness, and Sanitation; the word hygiene is a derivative. The award is considered to be one of the profession’s most prestigious. The program is managed by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA), and the APhA Foundation.

Marcy A. Bliss, CEO of Wedgewood Pharmacy, noted, “Mike has given service to the pharmacy profession above and beyond the call of duty during his long and distinguished career. As he is honored to be recognized in this way, we are honored that he is a key part of our team and our commitment to preserving access to compounded medications while caring for animals and the people who love them.”

For more than 25 years Blaire has been an active advocate for the pharmacy profession. He has been chairman of the Arizona Pharmacy Association Political Action Committee, and chairman of COMP-PAC, the political action committee for the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP), now called the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding (APC); he also serves on the board of APC as president. He is a member of the Political Action Committees for APhA and the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA). In 2015 he was appointed to the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy and was board president in 2018. As a member of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), he was appointed to the Committee on Constitution and Bylaws and currently serves as chairman of District 8. He is the 2017 recipient of the APhA Good Government Pharmacist of the Year Award and a 2019 recipient of the Arizona Pharmacy Association Hall of Fame Award. He also serves on the board of trustees of Phoenix Zoo.

A graduate of St. John’s University College of Pharmacy in New York, Blaire founded and served as supervising pharmacist for three pharmacies in New York City. Upon moving to Arizona, he served as pharmacy manager at several Walgreens pharmacy locations in the Phoenix area. In 2001, he co-founded Diamondback Drugs, a veterinary compounding pharmacy. It was bought by Wedgewood Pharmacy in July 2018.

Wedgewood Pharmacy is the largest compounding pharmacy devoted to animal-health in the U.S. Compounding is the long-established tradition in pharmacy practice that enables practitioners to prescribe and patients to take medicines that are specially prepared by pharmacists to meet patients' individual needs. A growing number of patients have unique health needs that off-the-shelf prescription medicines cannot meet. For them, customized, compounded medications prescribed or ordered by licensed physicians or veterinarians and mixed safely by trained, licensed compounding pharmacists are the only way to better health.

Compounded medications are created and prepared by specially trained pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in state-regulated pharmacies when mass-manufactured drugs are not, according to a prescriber, available or are not appropriate for a patient. The company’s 503B Outsourcing Facility, Wedgewood Connect, compounds medications under FDA’s modified cGMP standards.

Today’s Wedgewood Pharmacy grew from a local community pharmacy to become one of the largest compounding pharmacies in the United States. It is the leading pharmacy brand in animal health, recognized by 99% of veterinarians, and used by 8 in 10 veterinarians within the past year. It also prepares compounded medications for the human-health medical specialties of addiction medicine, urology and ophthalmology. The company serves more than 50,000 prescribers and hundreds of thousands of patients throughout the U.S. every year.

George (late) and Lucy Malmberg, both pharmacists, purchased Wedgewood Pharmacy in 1981; the year after the pharmacy opened. In June 2016, New Harbor Capital, became the majority shareholder of the company. In 2018, the company acquired Diamondback Drugs. In 2020, the company purchased and began production at Wedgewood Connect, an FDA-registered 503B Outsourcing Facility, in San Jose, California. In the same year, the company acquired Wildlife Pharmaceuticals and ZooPharm, in Colorado and Wyoming, respectively. In early 2021, New Harbor Capital sold its majority interest in the company to Partners Group.

Wedgewood Pharmacy is accredited by the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board (PCAB®) for compliance with PCAB and other nationally recognized compounding standards. PCAB was formed by eight of the nation’s leading pharmacy associations and is a service of Accreditation Commission for Health Care. As a third-party accreditation organization, PCAB has developed the highest national standards against which providers are measured to demonstrate their ability to effectively and efficiently deliver quality compounded medications to consumers.

Wedgewood Pharmacy employs more than 700 people.

Partners Group is a leading global private-markets firm. Since 1996, the firm has invested more than USD 145 billion in private equity, private real estate, private debt, and private infrastructure on behalf of its clients globally. Partners Group seeks to generate superior returns through capitalizing on thematic growth trends and transforming attractive businesses and assets into market leaders. The firm is a committed, responsible investor and aims to create sustainable returns with lasting, positive impact for all its stakeholders. With more than USD 109 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2020, Partners Group provides an innovative range of bespoke client solutions to institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and private individuals globally. The firm employs more than 1,500 diverse professionals across 20 offices worldwide and has regional headquarters in Baar-Zug, Switzerland; Denver, USA; and Singapore. It has been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 2006 (symbol: PGHN). For more information, please visit www.partnersgroup.com or follow the company on LinkedIn or Twitter.